Peninsula: Please, I only want to talk about ordinary people.

Chapter 19 Princess

Zhao Meiyan's eyes widened, and her entire face under the brim of her hat seemed to say, "What's going on?"

Isn't PD Nim from KBS? How come he's appearing on tvN?

Just now, her manager told her about the production team of this variety show in the car, but Kang Young-tae's name wasn't mentioned!

Jiang Yongtai couldn't help but laugh when he saw the "Am I in the wrong place?" look on her face.

"Miyeon-xi, we meet again."

The agent stepped forward from behind Zhao Meiyan, glancing between her own artist and Jiang Yongtai.

"Miyeon, do you know this PD-nim?"

"Yes, Oppa, me and..."

Zhao Meiyan glanced at Jiang Yongtai again, quickly composed herself, and turned to explain to her manager.

"I've met PD-nim a few times."

The agent glanced at her, her expression hidden by a hat and mask, but her reaction... didn't seem like that of someone who had "met her a few times."

Jiang Yongtai turned to his agent and nodded slightly.

"Hello, I'm Kang Young-tae, the PD in charge of this special episode. We should have met before when we were filming 'I-TALK'."

The agent looked him over, matching his face with the figure in his memory, and quickly bowed slightly to greet him.

"Hello, PD Kang, I didn't expect to see you here. I remember you're from KBS, aren't you?"

"I've already left KBS and just joined tvN," Kang Young-tae explained.

The agent nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Switching between TV stations is not uncommon in this industry.

Zhao Meiyan looked at him with some curiosity.

Just a few weeks ago he was a PD at KBS, and now he's with tvN. She can't help but wonder why he switched jobs.

Jiang Yongtai smiled at her gaze and gestured towards the end of the corridor.

"Miyeon-ssi, you've arrived just in time. Seohyun-ssi has just finished her pre-interview. Come on, I'll take you to the conference room."

"Ah! Okay, thank you, PD-nim."

Zhao Meiyan snapped out of her daze and quickly nodded to follow in his footsteps.

The agent glanced thoughtfully at his artist's back and followed.

The meeting room door was ajar, and Kim Sung-woo and the cameraman had already set up the equipment again.

Jiang Yongtai pushed open the door, let Zhao Meiyan sit in the spot where Xu Xian had just been, and sat down on the side of the main seat. He nodded to the cameraman, indicating that they could begin.

The agent also stepped aside to avoid disturbing the interview.

Zhao Meiyan sat upright, her hands folded on her lap, her back ramrod straight, and the tips of her ears peeking out from under her hat brim were red.

She didn't know why she was nervous. When they met at the pop-up store, Yuqi interrupted them, and senior Mina suddenly appeared. Although the scene was chaotic, it wasn't to the point where she was "alone" facing Kang Young-tae.

When Yuqi casually mentioned the "promise" before leaving, she took it as a joke, but now it feels like an inexplicable coincidence...

Clearly, Zhao Meiyan had completely forgotten that her manager and Kim Sung-woo were also present.

Jiang Yongtai flipped through the script a couple of times, looked up at her, and read out the tension that was hanging in the air.

He closed the script and set it aside, speaking in a relaxed tone.

"Miyeon-xi, I've seen your profile and the variety show clips you've appeared on before."

Zhao Meiyan unconsciously swallowed.

"Your image on variety shows is very likable, and you've even earned nicknames from fans based on the persona you portray..."

He paused, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Am I right, Princess?"

Zhao Meiyan was stunned for a moment, and her face under the brim of her hat turned red, spreading to her ears.

She quickly reached up to brush the stray hairs behind her ears, trying to cover her burning ears, and raised her voice a notch.

"No! I only said that in front of the camera!"

Jiang Yongtai smiled and pointed to the camera next to him.

"Now that we're in front of the camera, Mi-yeon, please relax a bit. This is just a simple interview."

Zhao Meiyan glanced at the camera, then at Jiang Yongtai with a smile on his face, and immediately understood his reminder. She took a deep breath and gradually relaxed.

"Yes, I'm sorry."

Jiang Yongtai picked up the script again, and Zhao Meiyan adjusted her posture as they began the formal interview.

The interview process was roughly the same as Seohyun's, but Cho Miyeon's reaction was completely different.

Her voice was soft, but more cheerful and uninhibited than Jiang Yongtai had expected.

"Miyeon's previous role as 'Zhao Baoling' on variety shows left a deep impression on the audience."

Jiang Yongtai glanced down at the script. "This time, 'A Heartbreaking Trip' is a travel variety show. What role do you think you can play in the team?"

"A role?" Zhao Meiyan tilted her head. "I think I'll just be responsible for being beautiful."

"...Beauty?"

Zhao Meiyan cupped her hands to her face, making a fluttering sound with her fingers, and gave Jiang Yongtai a sweet smile.

"Yes, beauty. I'm a princess, so of course I have to be beautiful~"

Jiang Yongtai's pen stopped on the paper, momentarily speechless at the unexpected answer.

Having worked behind the scenes for so long and seen so many artists, this was the first time he had met someone who could so naturally say that he was good-looking.

I initially thought her "narcissistic" persona on camera was just a persona, but it turns out it's real.

Before he could figure out how to respond, Zhao Meiyan couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing, her shoulders shaking.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Yongtai was even more confused, but then he started to set a trap for her.

"Yes, Mi-yeon-xi knows who the other three guests are, right?"

Zhao Meiyan hadn't recovered from her own laughter when she blurted it out.

"Yes, Jang Do-yeon sunbaenim, Narsha sunbaenim, and Seohyun sunbaenim~"

"OK."

Jiang Yongtai made a note in his notebook, looked up at her, and said calmly.

"We will relay Miyeon's answer that she was 'in charge of beauty' to the other three at the beginning of the program."

Zhao Meiyan blinked, her smile freezing on her face before she realized what was happening.

"That's right!"

Jiang Yongtai ignored her protest, a slight smile playing on his lips, and casually moved on to the next question.

Zhao Meiyan muttered something like "PD-nim, this won't do" on the other side, but she didn't dare to interrupt loudly, so she pulled her hat brim down to cover her burning face.

"The next question is that 'A Heartbreaking Trip' is a two-day, one-night trip, and we need to arrange food, accommodation, and transportation within a limited budget."

Does Mei Yanxi usually have any concept of managing money?

"Yes." She nodded.

"for example?"

"Hmm... When I go to the convenience store, given the same price for a triangular rice ball and a seaweed rice roll, I'll choose the seaweed rice roll because it has a bigger portion, and it has crunchy radish in it, which is really delicious!"

She paused here, as if recalling her daily life.

"Xiaojuan doesn't like to eat vegetables, so every time Yuqi and I go to the convenience store, we have to buy her extra food to take care of her..."

Jiang Yongtai put down his pen, realizing that the answer had completely missed the point, so he coughed to bring her back on track.

"Okay, let's talk about the game design for this session..."

He was explaining when he noticed that Zhao Meiyan's gaze was half-suspended in the air and she was completely distracted, so he had no choice but to tap his finger on the table twice.

Zhao Meiyan snapped back to reality, blinked, and realized she had been caught daydreaming. She quickly sat up straight, a sheepish smile on her face, and clasped her hands together.

"I'm sorry, PD! I'll pay attention in class!"

Jiang Yongtai looked at her expression and sighed inwardly.

The nickname given to her by her fans is absolutely right. Her face truly deserves the title of "princess." She is so exquisite that even when she is lost in thought, it looks like she is shooting a magazine.

However, there is indeed a prefix before it – "idiot".

"...It's okay, let's continue."

"Inside!"

Zhao Meiyan lowered her hand and resumed her good student demeanor.

……

"Alright, Miyeon-xi, that concludes today's pre-interview. Thank you for your hard work."

Jiang Yongtai smiled at Zhao Meiyan, signaling to the cameraman that he could turn off the camera.

Zhao Meiyan blinked blankly, still a little dazed.

"Huh? So fast?"

The agent walked over from the corner and nodded to Jiang Yongtai.

"Thank you, PD Kang. There's just something Miyeon forgot to mention. Giddle is making a comeback in early April, and we'd like to promote it a bit on the show. Is that alright?"

Zhao Meiyan exclaimed "Ah!" and frowned, muttering to herself how she could have forgotten about it. Then she looked at Jiang Yongtai, her eyes filled with anticipation.

Jiang Yongtai nodded.

"Of course, this matter was already discussed during the prior invitation, and we also decided in the meeting that we would ask Miyeon to dance a new song at the beginning."

The topic of a comeback can be mentioned appropriately in other segments later, but that will require Mi-yeon to elaborate on it.

Although the show has a script, it's essentially a reality show, and we won't interfere too much with the guests' performances.

After hearing this, Zhao Meiyan nodded quickly, "Don't worry, PD-nim, I will!"

The agent patted her on the shoulder and then said to Jiang Yongtai:

"I believe in Miyeon's variety show skills, so thank you PD-nim for today. Please take good care of Miyeon during filming."

He turned to his artist, "Miyeon, thank you, PD Kang. We're going back now. You have a schedule tomorrow."

"Okay, Oppa." Zhao Meiyan stood up and bowed slightly to Kang Young-tae. "Thank you, PD-nim."

Jiang Yongtai also stood up and responded with a smile:

"We should thank you for making the decision to appear so readily, Mi-yeon-ssi. See you during filming."

"Inside."

She smiled sweetly at him, then turned and followed her agent out.

As he approached the conference room door, he suddenly slowed down, glanced back at Jiang Yongtai, and his lips moved.

"What's wrong, Mi-yeon?" Jiang Yongtai asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"N-nothing..." She swallowed the words that were about to come out and waved her fist at him.

"PD, fighting!"

Zhao Meiyan then turned and ran away quickly, leaving a trail of footsteps that faded into the distance in the corridor.

Jiang Yongtai was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

The lingering air around her told him that Zhao Meiyan probably wanted her contact information, but was too embarrassed to ask because her manager was present.

He shook his head, his smile fading, and said to Kim Sung-woo, who was already sighing, "Finally, I can get off work!"

"Cheng Yu, take the tapes to the editing room for the cameraman before you go home."

"Okay, I got it, bro, but seriously..."

Kim Sung-woo turned his gaze away from the doorway and lowered his voice.

"Miyeon seems to have more variety show appeal than Seohyun. It should be very interesting when she teams up with Jang Do-yeon."

We're still figuring out how well Narsha and Seohyun are cooperating on our end..."

His worry was written all over his face. If the segment he was in charge of was too "flat" and large parts of the footage were cut, then the whole trip to Jeju Island would have been for nothing.

Jiang Yongtai patted him on the shoulder without explaining further.

"Don't say any more, go quickly, it's late."

Kim Sung-woo responded and walked away with the cameraman, carrying the equipment.

The meeting room quieted down, and Jiang Yongtai walked to the window and stretched, looking out at the night view.

He was well aware of Kim Sung-woo's concerns, but he simply didn't want to discuss them further in front of the cameraman.

Narsha is a veteran in variety shows, and no one needs to worry about her reaction speed and ability to catch jokes.

Seohyun... You could tell during the interview that she is indeed different now than before.

After leaving SM Entertainment, I felt much more relaxed and became much more outgoing.

But since she has transitioned into an actress, how much she can let loose on variety shows depends on her own efforts...

However, he wasn't particularly anxious.

Na Young-seok once said that variety shows need "people," subconscious reactions, not pre-written lines.

This is especially true for reality shows!

His greatest advantage in this line of work is his ability to anticipate the rhythm of the next second based on the movement of people and air.

He stopped thinking about it, took out his phone and glanced at the time; it was almost 11:30.

The Kakao notification sound rang out; it was Mina again.

He raised an eyebrow and opened the message.

A new photo shows only her and the empty wooden floor in front of the mirror in the practice room; no one else is visible.

Jiang Yongtai looked at the empty practice room in the photo, and then at the night view of the Shangyan Cave outside the window.

He raised his phone, took a picture of the view out the window, sent it without typing, put his phone away, and got up to leave the meeting room.

……

Mina stared at the night view photo on her phone screen for a moment, then raised an eyebrow.

Although Jiang Yongtai told her that she would be working overtime today, she has been working overtime until now?

She had just finished typing a line, ready to make a sarcastic remark, when the door to the practice room was pushed open with the sound of Minatozaki Sana's voice.

"Mina, what are you still doing here? Want to go back together?"

Sana Minatozaki stood at the door with a smile on her face. She had just finished recording the title track for her next comeback album, and her voice was a little hoarse.

Mina swiped her finger to exit the chat interface, flipped her phone face down on the ground, and smiled.

"No, I want to practice a little longer."

Sana Minatozaki walked in, sat down next to her, and put her arm around her shoulder with a tender expression.

"You don't need to push yourself so hard. Didn't Mina perform very well at the last concert?"

At the Fukuoka concert, when Mina returned to the group, the fans in the audience held up banners that read "Welcome back" and cried.

At that time, Mina bowed for a long time on stage, and when she bent down, Mina held her hand the whole time.

Mina patted the hand on her side.

"I know, it's just that I haven't practiced in a long time and I want to make up for what I missed."

"Hmm..." Sana Minatozaki thought for a moment, then grinned broadly.

"Then I'll go with you!"

Mina looked at her, her eyes softening.

Sana Minatozaki wasn't wearing makeup today; the area under her eyes was proof that she hadn't slept well last night.

She reached out and touched the head that Sana had leaned in to touch.

"Alright, you should go back first. You didn't get enough sleep last night, and today you've been practicing dance and recording songs. Your eyes are practically closed."

"No way!"

Sana Minatozaki tried to open her eyes wide, attempting to prove that she was not sleepy at all.

Mina was silent for two seconds, then deliberately yawned.

Minatozaki Sana stared at her open mouth, and her own mouth involuntarily opened as well, yawning out.

After she finished typing, two tears welled up in her eyes, and she vaguely saw Mina looking at her with a smile.

"Hey, you're cheating!"

"Go back quickly~" Mina put her hands on her shoulders and turned her around. The two of them stood up and pushed her towards the door.

"Okay, okay, I'll walk by myself!"

Sana Minato was pushed forward a few steps by her, her gaze casually sweeping over the corner where Mina had put her things, a dark baseball cap was pinned to her jacket.

Sana Minatozaki paused for a moment as she looked at the hat.

There was another hat hanging on the hook in Jiang Yongtai's entryway last night, and he already had this style of hat two years ago when they were still together...

Mina looked familiar when she came back that day, and now she knows why.

Jiang Yongtai's hat is exactly the same style and color as the one in front of him.

How come Mina has the same hat as Jiang Yongtai? And this style is completely different from Mina's usual style...

She asked curiously, "Mina, when did you buy that hat? It's not really your style."

Minami paused for a moment.

Sana recognized her?

The thought crossed my mind, then I suppressed it.

She replied casually, "Last time I went to buy a game console, I realized I wasn't wearing a hat when I left the store. I was afraid my fans would recognize me, so I just bought one randomly."

"...Oh, I see."

Sana Minatozaki put aside her doubts, but her mind was still racing.

It's such a coincidence that I just randomly bought the same hat as Jiang Yongtai's, and this style of hat doesn't seem to be very common on the market...

Upon reaching the door, Minatozaki Sana turned around and looked at Mina.

"I'll head back now. Don't practice too late; your body can't take it."

"We probably practiced a lot more before we debuted, right?"

Minami waved at her, "Go back quickly~"

"Hmm... I'll wait for you at home while you play games, don't keep me waiting too long!"

Sana Minatozaki smiled and shook her hand.

Mina raised an eyebrow: "Sana, didn't you dislike playing video games?"

Sana Minatozaki winked at her, a smile playing on her lips.

"Want to play with you?"

She let go of Mina's hand and walked towards the elevator, turning back to wave again before the elevator doors closed.

Mina only stopped smiling as the elevator doors closed, then turned and walked back to the practice room.

She knew that the game invitation was Sana's way of showing her kindness.

Mina shook her head helplessly, glancing at the corner where the things were kept, her brows furrowing slightly as she looked at the hat.

Sana really only asked because the styles didn't match? It doesn't seem like it...

Sana went to Jiang Yongtai's house last night and may have seen the exact same hat.

After all, Jiang Yongtai has a habit of buying things he's too lazy to change; he buys several of the same item at once. Sana knows this, and so does Sana...

She squinted slightly, walked over, and picked up the hat.

So, you recognized me, right?

Mina stood there for a moment, then suddenly chuckled, looking speechlessly at the hat in her hand.

What am I doing? Thinking so much!

I just forgot to return it last time; I'll just give it back to him next time we meet.

If Sana asks, just say you lost your hat.

She put the hat back in its place, took out her phone, and there was still the sarcastic message she hadn't sent in the input box.

What's wrong... You just stay silent because I'm not typing?

He deleted the sarcastic comment and typed a few more words.

"Still not off work?"

My thumb moved to the send button, stopped, and then I deleted it word by word.

I won't send it to him!

She put her phone down and looked up at the empty practice room.

I saw myself in the mirror. My T-shirt was wrinkled from a day of practice, and my hair, which was tied up, was loose and limp.

Mina pursed her lips.

I was planning to practice a little longer, but I'm not really in the mood anymore...

She picked up her coat and put it on, then put on her mask. When she reached for her bag, her fingers touched the baseball cap. She hesitated for a moment, then put it on anyway.

She turned off the lights in the practice room and went downstairs.

Stepping out of the JYP building, spring hadn't arrived yet, and a chilly night wind swept over me.

Mina shrank her neck, took out her phone, and asked in the group chat who needed to bring something.

Hirai Momo and Lim Nayeon replied instantly. One asked for gummy candies and potato chips, while the other said that the milk in the refrigerator was almost gone and asked her to bring back a large box.

She stared at the information on the screen, her steps unwavering. While typing to ask if anyone else needed help, she walked towards the convenience store, only to bump into someone's chest.

She quickly took a half step back and bowed her head in apology.

"sorry."

"Nan-chan, don't use your phone while walking."

A familiar voice came from above. Mina was startled and looked up.

Jiang Yongtai stood in front of her, wearing a mask, looking at her with a smile in his eyes.